This quarter, it will be 20 years since I began studying commerce. Spending my days alone, on sabbatical over chores, I review past lessons.
I graduated about 21 years ago, but my first job was in a think tank supporting Putrajaya. The pace did not suit me, so I dove into commerce, finally, in 2006. After short stints in management consulting, and asset management, I worked at my first startup. At this little company, I got to work with some really nice people, who had accomplished many things in their private careers, and were now religiously motivated to run a social enterprise.
We raised $1 million on a $2 million valuation, largely on my work projecting financial statements and fluffing up their intellectual property assets. After funding, I was offered something like $10,000/year, so I declined to participate. For the setup work, I had been paid about $5,000. I thought nothing of it at time, figuring that it was an ordinary collection of cultural experience, neither surprising, nor encouraging in any way.
It taught me however, to structure my time more around commercial agreements, and to simply discount the positive aspects of anyone involved. The world is full of clever, well-intended people. But they cannot all be expected to act in the interest of others. My short experience with this little company taught me also how to be a better employer. I have since always practiced the method of explicitly discussing the economic motivations of staff, on an individual basis, when hiring.
My next job after this, was learning how to tend a bar.
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